Right to Health of Internally Displaced Persons - IDP SriLanka

However though there is a scarcity of human resources and the legal
duties of the preventive health sector are being unable to fulfill, the
dedicated health staff have managed to prevent further health disasters
following the disasters. But in some areas, it was reported that though
they have sufficient staff, day to day visits are not being done and due to
lack of monitoring system regarding their conduct.
The changes to ethnic composition of some districts after displacement,
have also posed some administrative issues in public health sector. In
Puttalam, in 1981 there were 83 % of Sinhalese, 17 % of Tamil speaking
persons. However in 2001; the Tamil speaking people in the district has
been increased upto 26 %t because of the large number of displaced
Muslim community from the Northern Province after 1989. Therefore it
is obvious administrative decisions such as the language ability of the
government staffs should be revised according to the new statistics at
least in the relevant areas. For instance, in Puttalam MOH area there
about 25,000 Tamil speaking IDPs and among 4 PHIs only one can speak
Tamil and among 19 PHMs only 3 can manage with Tamil language.
Language of these staffs is imperative because in relocations, the
knowledge on environmental sanitation and family health issues have to
be communicated to the displaced community by these officers.
7.3. Shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene and disease prevalence
Right to adequate housing, water, sanitation and hygiene is clearly
enshrined in the human rights sphere. These rights are combined with
other human rights such as right to live in security and with dignity.
However, concerning displaced people this is quite different. After
loosing their natural habitats and wealth, they are compelled to live
either in community centers or with their friends and relatives. It was
very much obvious during the study that the basic living standards to live
in dignity are not being observed at the temporary shelters, welfare
centers and in relocations. It is estimated that this catastrophe is being
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“Population by ethnic group and district, Census 1981 & 2001” ,Department of
Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka,
http://www.statistics.gov.lk/Abstract_2006/abstract2006/table%202007/CHAP%202/
AB2-11.pdf
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Observed in discussion with MOH Puttalam.
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